The Secret of Friendship
by Sora Sotara
Summary: There's something strange happening with Kuwabara, but do his friends know more than they let on? Two shot.
1. What happened

It was first brought to his attention by his sister, she now entering her 60s and he mid 50s, that while she had signs of her age he had none of his though they were so close in age. She had begun to show in her late 40s. Even his friends, Okubo and the other human two, had grown old and they along with Shizuru eventually died.

Kuwabara Kazuma however, still looked the same as he had back in his mid 20s.

And so it came to pass that Kuwabara Kazuma was dubbed "immortal" and officially took over control of the shrine and now demon sanctuary of the late Master Genkai. His ownership was proven when he wed the lovely koorime who had lived on that land for the past century, and cared for it the 80-some years she had owned the land. Together they protected the demons from the humans around, and even humans from the occasional demon attack. All the while entertaining the mutual friends who often came to visit.

Hiei who had left for Makai as soon as he could. Kurama who kept human form yet lived in Makai after the death of his beloved family. And Yuusuke, who had lived with Keiko and run her family's shop until her death. Then he vanished into Makai to take back control of his father's land from Hokushin. Raizen's friends came and went for the Demon World Tournament whenever they desired some further practice in battle, Yomi reamained lost in training with his son and Mukuro, content with life, never returned to her maximum power. Therefore the title or ruler was left to those of the next power level to take. Neither Hiei nor Kurama bothered with it either.

Things were peaceful though. The new government, though it did still have a few flaws, was overall successful in keeping the peace, and more importantly keeping demons (en masse) from the Human World. And the visits from friends were always nice. After several centuries though Kuwabara began to finally notice signs of age in his friends, subtle though they were. It was about the same time he and his wife Yukina both also began to grow older.

He had always been curious about it, why he wasn't aging. Sure everyone else he knew was curious too but they hadn't been around to hear all the dismissed theories. Of course they had first gone to Koenma to see, Yuusuke coming because he'd been forced to show the way. The Spirit Prince could only say that his date of death had vanished from the books, but they knew that much since the Ankoku Bujutsukai. He suggested perhaps it was due to the influence of his friends' demon auras on him but after Keiko's death that theory had crumbled as well. Searching into his past showed nothing that could have the effect of immortality and so it had fallen to be a mystery

Somehow though, he never noticed his friends' shared expressions everytime the matter came up.


	2. The secret behind it

--------500+ years ago---------

"Are you guys sure you want to do this?"

"Yuusuke," the red head said in a steady tone. "He's our friend too and we agreed. If you ask one more time Hiei and myself will hide the Mirror somewhere you'll never find it."

"Oh come on, it can't be that hard to find... You got it from Spirit World," the dark haired boy said and looked to the shortest of the trio.

"I do believe you'e missing some facts Yuusuke," Kurama said. "First off, that we could get it means that we would have a greater skill to hide it."

Hiei cut in before he could say more. "Those fools didn't hide it either. When they saw what you did to the mirror they treated it as garbage. All I did to find it was discover the location in the mind of one who discarded it." The other seemed about to say something but was stopped as the fire demon continued. "It only took so long because there are almost no minds at all in that place to read...."

It was soft enough to be a mumble and so Yuusuke turned away to address a more important question. "Ok, so are we just gonna stand around forever or are we gonna do this?"

Green eyes closed as their owner sighed. "You need to learn patience... We're lucky to even have it fixed in time or we'd be waiting another month."

"And you're sure he did everything he was supposed to?"

"Yes. That demon was one of the few Youko ever trusted and that is saying something."

The apparition mumbled something too soft to be heard, yet sounded something like 'arrogant fox' but the other two seemed to not hear as the one spoken about stuck his hand into the blue backpack and took out a small round mirror. It fit almost completely in the palm of his hand as he set it down on the ground between the three of them.

"Don't even say it, Detective." The teen's mouth had barely opened before he was cut off.

"You know, that mind reading bit gets old fast," Yuusuke grumbled. "I just wanted to know if he even remembered how to activate it."

There was a chuckle as the third person answered. "Of course Yuusuke, I wouldn't be foolish enough to do this if I didn't know it would turn out.

"We're all agreed then," he repeated, offering only the slightest question in his tone. "Once we start this there is no backing out." The other two both nodded and everyone's eyes shifted towards the mirror.

"Let's do this then." The red head exhaled deeply once then knelt beside the mirror.

"Forlorn Hope, we ask that you awaken to aud us in our unified desire. Grant our wish so that it might become true."

There was no reaction at first but suddenly a bright light began eminating from the mirror as it answered the summons. Within the glass was an image of their last friend, grown very old as though to the end of his life.

"This is the person you three want to help. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"For every granted desire there must be a sacrifice."

"We each offer up our demon selves." As he named each they knelt beside the mirror and reached out a hand to almost touch it. "Half ice, half fire and Master of the Black Dragon with aid from an implanted Jagan eye, Hiei. Mazouku after nearly 50 recessive descendants and heir to the former Demon Lord Raizen, Urameshi Yuusuke. And myself, the infamous Legendary Bandit Youko Kurama.

"We ask that you combine our life energies with that of our human friend Kuwabara Kazuma so that we need not leave him behind to die while we live far-lengthened lives."

Again there was nothing first. Then a blinding light encompassed the three of them and from within the voice of the mirror seemed to resonate throughout.

"Your desire shall be fullfilled."

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So what do you think? It took much longer than I'd intended and I owe a great thanks to my friend () for looking up stuff for me when I couldn't.

This was originally planned for a Kuwabara tribute-esque contest on Gaia but that fell through and I got wrapped up in other matters. I can tell you where to look if you're interested, though I think it's all but died now.


End file.
